The hysteria surrounding Zohran Mamdani has both surprised and shocked me. This is a man running for Mayor of New York City—a city with an annual budget of over $100 billion. How many corporations around the world spend more than $100 billion a year? How many countries operate with a federal budget that size?
If Mamdani can’t run a few grocery stores, he certainly shouldn’t be running the city government. This is a straightforward management issue.
But the controversy isn’t really about grocery stores. It’s about the fact that he is Muslim and of Indian origin. I hadn’t realized racism could still run this deep in our public discourse. Just a few decades ago, a Senate Majority Leader lost his job over one comment that was perceived as racist. That happened in America. And today? The contrast is night and day.
Of course, you can disagree with someone’s policies. Can you disagree with Netanyahu’s policies? Absolutely. Trump’s? Yes. Modi’s? Of course. Likewise, you can disagree with Mamdani’s proposals. For example, you might oppose his idea of city-run grocery stores. (It does seem like you can take Mamdani out of India, but you can’t take India out of Mamdani—the very idea of running grocery stores as public services!)
And yes, you can also disagree with Mamdani’s disagreements with the policies of Netanyahu, Trump, or Modi.
But let’s be clear: the office of New York City Mayor is the second most visible political position in the country, after the presidency itself. And the level of hysteria directed at Mamdani today feels new—and much of it is deeply inappropriate.
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1/ The hysteria around Zohran Mamdani has genuinely surprised me.
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) June 29, 2025
He's running for Mayor of New York City—a city with a $100B+ annual budget. That’s more than most corporations or countries spend each year.
This is serious leadership. Not a joke.
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